Glassdoor on Friday revealed its latest list of the “Top 25 Highest Rated CEOs of 2012.” Apple’s Tim Cook took the top spot with a 97% approval rating, leading Ernst & Young’s Jim Turley, Qualcomm’s Paul Jacobs and Google’s Larry Page. “I think leadership is doing an amazing job,” said one Apple employee. “We have the best management team anywhere.” When Steve Jobs stepped down in August 2011, the late Apple co-founder garnered a cumulative approval rating of 97%, however Cook leads Jobs’s rating of 95% from March 2010 to March 2011. While it has been a tough year for Hewlett-Packard, the company’s new CEO Meg Whitman also made the list with an 80% approval rating, placing her in the  No. 24 spot. Glassdoor bases the list entirely on feedback from anonymous employees who were asked one question — do they approve of the way their CEO is leading the company?

Read

Hewlett-Packard will reportedly soon undergo a reorganization that will see its Personal Systems Group merged with its Imaging and Printing Group. AllThingsD cites multiple unnamed sources in reporting the news, and additional details are light for the time being. Vyomesh Joshi, currently the executive vice president in charge of HP’s imaging and printing business, will leave the company as part of the reorganization. Executive vice president Todd Bradley will reportedly run the merged businesses.

Read

Hewlett-Packard will cut 275 of its 500 remaining employees on the webOS team as its mobile platform transitions to open source, WebOS Nation reported on Tuesday. “As webOS continues the transition from making mobile devices to open source software, it no longer needs many of the engineering and other related positions that it required before,” the company said in a statement. “This creates a smaller and more nimble team that is well-equipped to deliver an open source webOS and sustain HP’s commitment to the software over the long term.” While positions are being cut, HP hopes to redeploy employees to other areas of the company. The move leaves the webOS team with roughly 225 workers.

Read

HP announced on Monday that it has followed through with its intentions to acquire Autonomy and has purchased the enterprise information technology firm for £25.50 per share in cash. HP will allow Autonomy to operate as an entirely separate arm; Autonomy will continue to be led by its founder and CEO Dr. Mike Lynch, who will report to HP’s newly appointed CEO Meg Whitman. “We are committed to helping our customers solve their toughest IT challenges,” HP president and chief executive officer Meg Whitman said. “The exploding growth of unstructured and structured data and unlocking its value is the single largest opportunity for consumers, businesses and governments. Autonomy significantly increases our capabilities to manage and extract meaning from that data to drive insight, foresight and better decision making.” Read on for the full press release.

HP Acquires Control of Autonomy Corporation

Positions HP as a leader in fast-growing enterprise information management and data market

HP today announced that it has acquired control of Autonomy Corporation.

Holders of 213,421,299 Autonomy shares have accepted HP’s previously announced offer to purchase the entire share capital of Autonomy at a price of £25.50 per share in cash, representing approximately 87.34 percent of the current issued share capital of Autonomy. As such, all conditions relating to the offer have now been satisfied, allowing HP to acquire control of Autonomy.

The acquisition positions HP as a leader in the large and growing enterprise information management space. Autonomy’s software offerings power more than 25,000 customer accounts worldwide and, as part of HP, will provide high-value business solutions to help customers manage the explosion of unstructured and structured information. Autonomy offers solutions that are complementary across HP’s enterprise offerings and strengthens the company’s data analytics, cloud, industry and workflow management capabilities.

“We are committed to helping our customers solve their toughest IT challenges. The exploding growth of unstructured and structured data and unlocking its value is the single largest opportunity for consumers, businesses and governments,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. “Autonomy significantly increases our capabilities to manage and extract meaning from that data to drive insight, foresight and better decision making.”

As previously announced, Autonomy will operate as a separate business unit. Dr. Mike Lynch, the founder and chief executive officer of Autonomy, will continue to lead the Autonomy business and will report to Whitman.

“This is a historic day for Autonomy, our employees and the customers we serve, as we combine HP’s phenomenal assets and Autonomy’s specialized skills to produce systems that handle all the information in the enterprise, regardless of the format it is in,” said Lynch. “We are at the dawn of a new era when it is the ‘I’ in IT that is changing, not just the ‘T.’”

HP’s offer to purchase the remaining Autonomy shares remains open. Further information is available at www.hp.com/investor/offerdocuments.

 

 

Acer, ASUS, Dell, Lenovo and HP will begin to mass produce Intel-powered ultrabooks in September, on schedule for a second-half launch, DigiTimes reported on Tuesday. ASUS’ UX21 ultrabook will be the first such device to market, despite reports to the contrary that HP would release its device before ASUS. Instead, HP’s ultrabook may not launch until the fourth quarter or early next year, a far cry from the original rumored August launch date. Models from Acer and Dell could be late to the market, too, due to slower than expected panel production. Intel introduced its ultrabook roadmap in May and hopes the devices, which will be powered by the company’s latest Core processors and 22nm Ivy Bridge processor, will dominate 40% of the consumer market by the end of 2012.

Read

During the Computex trade show in May, Intel laid out its vision for new “Ultrabook” notebooks that will blend the performance of today’s laptops with a tablet-like experience in a thin and light product. While the company originally said that ASUS’ UX21 notebook would be the first such device when it launches in time for this year’s holiday season, a new report from DigiTimes suggests that HP will beat ASUS to the market. Reportedly, the computer manufacturer will use Foxconn Electronics for the production of at least two Ultrabooks, which will run on Intel’s 1.8GHz Core i7-2677M and the 1.7GHz Core i7-2637M platforms. Rumor has it that Foxconn has already started to ship the Ultrabooks to HP, but it’s unclear when the devices will launch.

Read

In my review of the HP TouchPad, which we published last night, I went off on a tangent about the “touch-to-share” functionality Hewlett-Packard introduced with the TouchPad tablet and the Pre 3 smartphone. I think it bears repeating. In a nutshell, touch-to-share allows the user to tap a webOS smartphone to the TouchPad in order to push any URL in an open browser page from one device to the other. I wrote at length about this feature, which is still in its infancy but exhibits tremendous potential. But the real value for touch-to-share goes far beyond the technology itself. The feature is great and HP can take it in a million different directions, but the bigger picture here is that touch-to-share can become an amazing way for HP to differentiate its tablet from the competition in a way that might actually pique consumers’ interest. Tech companies are so concerned with catching up right now that they forgot a very important piece of the puzzle: valuable differentiation. Flash, for example, is not a way for a company to differentiate its products — just ask the senior RIM executive who recently made a plea for RIM to step up its game. Companies are so concerned with pushing media tablets out to market that they’re forgetting to give consumers a reason to buy them over the market leader, the Apple iPad. If an Apple competitor ever wants to see real, long-term success with a tablet line, valuable differentiated features like a mature touch-to-share solution are paramount. With that, hit the break for my thoughts on the technology, as originally seen in our review of the HP TouchPad.

–

In BGR’s first ever podcast, I mentioned my fondness of HP’s touch-to-share feature. This Touchstone technology married with Bluetooth (we mistakenly said in the podcast that HP used NFC for the feature, however this is not the case) allows a user to tap a Pre 3 smartphone to a TouchPad in order to take a web page being viewed on one device and open on the other. HP gave me a Pre 3 to test out the functionality and it works reasonably well. I found that there was a bit of a delay in opening passed URLs on the receiving device, but the ripple animation is nifty and this service, to me, is all about potential.

BGR Editor-in-chief Jonathan Geller responded to my cooing by mentioning Apple’s end-to-end iCloud solution, which, in part, synchronizes data on an iOS device across all iOS/Mac OS devices a user owns. It’s pretty great. But as elegant as Apple’s solution is, it’s not perfect. Today — or at least, once Apple releases iCloud to the masses — iCloud might be the simpler solution, and it also encompasses a wider range of data. Moving forward, however, I can see several areas where HP’s solution could provide clear advantages over iCloud. One such example is sharing.

In a bubble, syncing data effortlessly across all of your devices is all a user might be concerned with. But we live among other people, and we want to share things with those people. Can iCloud instantly and effortlessly share a v-card with an associate? Can iCloud share a photo or three with my wife? Can iCloud send a song or video to a buddy’s phone? Can iCloud mirror a task calendar entry on a coworker’s phone? The answer in all of these cases, and in countless others, is no.

ICloud is thorough, elegant solution for personal data management that will change the way we use our devices. But if HP doesn’t drop the ball, touch-to-share has the potential to change the way we interact with people in the physical world. You know, IRL.

There are other ways HP’s technology trumps iCloud — I love that I can make and receive calls and exchange text messages using the TouchPad when paired with the Pre 3 — but there are always plenty of ways iCloud’s utility far exceeds that of Touchstone. The ideal solution is unquestionably a combination of both technologies. And unless NFC rumors were accurate and Apple does indeed have some innovative NFC-based features coming to the iPhone in the near future, I think HP could get there first. HP is making big investments in cloud-based technologies — trust me, I constantly get press releases about said investments.

HP is in an interesting place right now because despite the fact that it has a lot of catching up to do in the mobile space, it finds itself in a position that perhaps most closely represents Apple’s. It builds hardware and it owns the software, so it can dictate the end-to-end user experience across desktop and mobile devices. HP does not own Windows on its computers, of course, but it will be adding webOS to its PCs on top of Windows so there is endless potential there. So HP could, for example, add Touchstone capabilities to its desktop computers with a simple peripheral. It could also use the bezel around a display or it could build the technology into the case around the keyboard. This would add a whole new dimension to Touchstone and really extend it to places we haven’t even considered. Then drop a cherry on top with a set of APIs that would allow third-party developers to build apps that employ Touchstone technology on smartphones, tablets, notebooks and desktop computers, and the potential is limitless.

Hewlett-Packard will follow up its TouchPad launch next month with the release of an unannounced 7-inch tablet in August, Taiwan Economic News reported on Friday. Citing information from an Inventec Corp. subcontractor, the Taiwanese manufacturer is said to have received a healthy number of tablet orders from HP. The Palo Alto-based company has reportedly ordered between 400,000 and 450,000 tablets per month from Inventec, which also manufactures notebook computers for HP. The source claimed that HP’s orders are comprised of both the 9.7-inch TouchPad set to launch on July 1st, and a second, unannounced tablet that will feature a 7-inch display, though no additional details surrounding the smaller tablet model were reported. An unnamed industry insider estimates that Inventec will build and ship 3 million tablets for HP in 2011.

Read

According to Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker, HP personal computers will begin pulling double in the very near future. “Starting next year, every one of the PCs shipped by HP will include the ability to run WebOS in addition to Microsoft Corp.’s Windows,” said Apotheker. HP’s chief is trying to incentivize developers to create software for his company’s acquired platform, which he sees running on HP phones, computers, and printers. Currently, software comprises 2.2% of the company’s sales portfolio — 70% is generated by hardware and 27% from services. Apotheker, a former SAP employee, quips, “I happen to know something about software,” and goes on to note that he is looking to create “a massive platform.” Since taking over as CEO, Apotheker has increased the research and development budget of the company — now at close to $3 billion annually — and has been on a whirlwind tour of HP’s global offices. It’s a bold vision, and we’re pretty excited to see how it pans out.

Read

Hewlett-Packard reported a solid quarter Monday evening, as the consumer electronics giant posted earnings that beat analyst expectations. HP’s net revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter of 2010 came in at $33.3 billion, up $2.5 billion from the fourth quarter last year. Non-GAAP diluted EPS was also up year-over-year, jumping 17% to $1.33. HP raked in a total of $126 billion in net revenue for its full fiscal 2010, up an impressive 10% from 2009. Looking forward, the company now projects 2011 revenue to fall between $132 and $133.5 billion, with non-GAAP diluted EPS ranging from $5.16 to $5.26. Hit the jump for the full report.

HP Reports Fourth Quarter 2010 Results

•Fourth quarter net revenue of $33.3 billion, up $2.5 billion or 8% from a year earlier
•Fourth quarter non-GAAP operating profit up 10% to $4.0 billion led by gross margin improvement; GAAP operating profit up 5% to $3.3 billion
•Fiscal 2010 net revenue of $126 billion, up 10% or $11.5 billion, with non-GAAP diluted earnings per share up 19% and GAAP diluted earnings per share up 18% from the preceding year
•Broad-based year-over-year growth in the commercial segment driven by ESS growth of 25% and growth in commercial PC •Clients and Printers of 20% and 22%, respectively, in the fourth quarter
•Delivered 50% organic growth in HP Networking, with 3Com revenue ahead of plan
•Raising full-year earnings per share outlook

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov 22, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced financial results for its fourth fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2010, with net revenue of $33.3 billion, up 8% from the prior-year period including a slight negative currency impact of about one percentage point.

In the fourth quarter, GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $1.10, up 11% from $0.99 in the prior-year period. Non-GAAP diluted EPS was $1.33, up 17% from $1.14 in the prior-year period. Non-GAAP financial information excludes after-tax costs of approximately $0.23 per share and $0.15 per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 and 2009, respectively, related primarily to the amortization of purchased intangibles, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.

“HP proved once again that it is able to execute given its market strengths and technology leadership,” said Léo Apotheker, HP president and chief executive officer. “I have seen firsthand that we have talented people who are focused on delivering value for our customers. Our market opportunity is vast, and I am confident that we will extend our leadership into the future.”

“HP continued to execute in the fourth quarter, delivering growth, expanding margins and increasing earnings per share double digits,” said Cathie Lesjak, HP executive vice president and chief financial officer. “We continue to invest in the business, in sales and in R&D, while driving further efficiencies.”

Information about HP’s use of non-GAAP financial information is provided under “Use of non-GAAP financial information” below. Unless otherwise noted, all growth rates included in the narrative below reflect year-over-year comparisons.

Full Year Fiscal 2010

Net revenue for the full fiscal year 2010 was $126.0 billion, up 10% compared with the prior-year or up 8% when adjusted for the effects of currency. GAAP operating profit was $11.5 billion, and GAAP diluted EPS was $3.69, up from $3.14 in the prior year. Non-GAAP operating profit was $14.4 billion, and non-GAAP diluted EPS was $4.58, up from $3.85 in the prior-year. Non-GAAP financial information excludes $2.1 billion of adjustments on an after-tax basis, or $0.89 per diluted share, related to the amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2010

Fourth quarter revenue was up 10% in the Americas to $15.1 billion. Revenue was up 6% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and up 8% in Asia Pacific to $12.4 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively. When adjusted for the effects of currency, revenue was up 9% in the Americas, up 11% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and up 3% in Asia Pacific. Revenue from outside of the United States in the fourth quarter accounted for 64% of total HP revenue, with revenue in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) increasing 12% while accounting for 10% of total HP revenue.

Services

Services revenue increased 0.4% to $9.0 billion in the fourth quarter. Revenue in each of Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing, Application Services and Technology Services grew roughly 1%. Business Process Outsourcing revenue was down 11%, including a 7% negative impact due to the divestiture of ExcellerateHRO, LLP (EHRO). Operating profit was $1.5 billion, or 16.7% of revenue, up from $1.4 billion, or 16.2% of revenue, in the prior-year period.

Enterprise Storage and Servers

Enterprise Storage and Servers (ESS) reported total revenue of $5.3 billion in the fourth quarter, up 25%. Industry Standard Server revenue increased 32%, while Storage revenue increased 14% and Business Critical Systems revenue grew 10%. ESS blade revenue was up 51%. Operating profit was $730 million, or 13.9% of revenue, up from $481 million, or 11.4% of revenue, in the prior-year period.

HP Software

HP Software revenue increased roughly 1% to $974 million in the fourth quarter. Business Technology Optimization revenue increased 4%, and Other Software revenue decreased 6%. Operating profit was $247 million, or 25.4% of revenue, up from $234 million, or 24.2% of revenue, in the prior-year period.

Personal Systems Group

Personal Systems Group (PSG) revenue increased 4% to $10.3 billion in the fourth quarter. HP maintained the leading market share position in PCs worldwide with a 2% increase in unit shipments. Notebook revenue for the quarter was down 3% from the prior year period, while Desktop revenue increased 13%. Commercial client revenue was up 20%, while Consumer client revenue declined 10%. Operating profit improved to $568 million, or 5.5% of revenue, up from $460 million, or 4.7% of revenue, in the prior-year period.

Imaging and Printing Group

Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) revenue increased 8% to $7.0 billion in the fourth quarter. Supplies revenue was up 6%, while Commercial hardware revenue and Consumer hardware revenue were up 22% and down 2%, respectively. Printer unit shipments increased 14%, with Commercial printer hardware units up 43% and Consumer printer hardware units up 7%. Operating profit was $1.2 billion, or 17.4% of revenue, versus $1.2 billion, or 18.1% of revenue, in the prior-year period.

Corporate Investments

HP Networking revenue increased 227% overall in the fourth quarter including the impact of the 3Com acquisition, which was completed last April. ProCurve revenue grew 50% over the prior-year period.

HP Financial Services

HP Financial Services (HPFS) revenue increased 11% to $809 million in the fourth quarter. Financing volume increased 11%, and net portfolio assets increased 14%. Operating profit was $73 million, up from $66 million in the prior-year period.

Asset management

HP generated $3.2 billion in cash flow from operations for the fourth quarter. Inventory ended the quarter at $6.5 billion, with days of inventory flat year over year at 23 days. Accounts receivable of $18.5 billion was up 2 days year over year. Accounts payable ended the quarter at $14.4 billion, down 5 days from the prior-year period. HP’s dividend payment of $0.08 per share in the fourth quarter resulted in cash usage of $181 million. HP also utilized $4.0 billion of cash during the quarter to repurchase approximately 96 million shares of common stock in the open market. HP exited the quarter with $11.0 billion in gross cash.

Outlook

For the first quarter of fiscal 2011, HP estimates revenue of approximately $32.8 billion to $33.0 billion, GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $1.06 to $1.08, and non-GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $1.28 to $1.30. First quarter fiscal 2011 GAAP and non-GAAP diluted EPS estimates include a one-time gain of approximately $0.04 per share primarily related to the disposition of real estate.

First quarter fiscal 2011 non-GAAP diluted EPS estimates exclude after-tax costs of approximately $0.22 per share, related primarily to the amortization of purchased intangibles, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.

HP expects full year fiscal 2011 revenue in the range $132 billion to $133.5 billion, GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $4.42 to $4.52, and non-GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $5.16 to $5.26. GAAP and non-GAAP diluted EPS includes a one-time gain of approximately $0.04 per share primarily related to the disposition of real estate.

Full year fiscal 2011 non-GAAP diluted EPS estimates exclude after-tax costs of approximately $0.74 per share, related primarily to the amortization of purchased intangibles, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.

Read

If a report from financial paper The Taiwan Economic Times is to be believed, freshly acquired Palm Inc. is getting ready to fire up the afterburners and fuel them with bags full of HP’s cash. The paper cites industry sources in claiming that Chinese manufacturing giants Foxconn and Compal were recently awarded new contracts for a total of five to six new Palm-branded devices. Among them is the fabled PalmPad, a webOS-powered tablet that will compete with the Apple iPad, the BlackBerry PlayBook and the flurry of Android tablets currently bombarding the market. Each of the aforementioned five to six devices will reportedly go on sale in 2011.

[Via PreCentral.net]

Read

Last Friday, HP CEO Mark Hurd resigned amidst sexual harassment allegations that his former employer chose to make public. Monday, in a letter to the New York Times, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison did not mince words about his thoughts on the forced resignation of Mr. Hurd. “The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago. [...] In losing Mark Hurd, the H.P. board failed to act in the best interest of H.P.’s employees, shareholders, customers and partners. The H.P. board admits that it fully investigated the sexual harassment claims against Mark and found them to be utterly false.” Ellison went on to say, “publishing known false sexual harassment claims is not good corporate governance; it’s cowardly corporate political correctness.” Hurd, who had been with HP for five years, is set to receive a severance package of cash and stock worth an estimated $28 million. At least he won’t go away empty handed?

Read

Previously, HP had stated that they were on track to release an Android tablet before the end of 2010. Now, according to the sources of AllThingsD, this timeline is no longer valid. “HP’s Android slate has been delayed and won’t ship before the end of the year as planned,” wrote ATD. HP has, through its own admission, been developing a Windows 7, webOS, and Android tablet simultaneously. Perhaps this is a sign that HP is refocusing its efforts on its newly purchased webOS? Whatever the reason, we look forward to HP jumping into the tablet market.

Read

The NYT has an interesting article up about the iPad — no, it is not about how great it is. The iPad may prove to be the catalyst for what was previously a struggling market… the tablet. The tablet PC never really excited consumers the way manufacturers had hoped. Flimsy hinges, sub-par software, and a lack of device sex appeal were largely to blame for the floundering sales figures. What will the new tablet look like? First, scratch the name. Tablets were so 2002; the new set of devices are called slates, or even *shudder* pads. They no longer have awkward hinges, they probably won’t have a physical keyboard, and they definitely won’t have a standard desktop operating system shoe-horned onto them. They will be, like it or not, more iPad-like. Sleeker, sexier, cheaper, and more well received than before.

Nokia, Microsoft, Google, and H.P. have all committed to making a slate-like device within the next year. While Microsoft and H.P. do have experience with the aforementioned tablet-type devices, Google is seemingly in the best position to benefit from companies pushing newer slate devices into the marketplace. The company’s Android OS can be easily scaled to a larger screen, there is already a thriving application ecosystem and content delivery method, and a loyal, sometimes rabid, fan base. H.P.’s slate offering due out next year, nicknamed “the half-pint,” will be running Google’s transformative mobile OS, while Microsoft and Nokia have not yet publicly announced what type of OS their slate devices will run — we think it is safe to assume that Microsoft may go with some version of Windows… just a hunch. There are even rumors that Google has plans to make its own slate hardware — it is unclear whether that is in-house of via a third-party, like the Nexus One. You can love or hate the iPad… either way, it could prove to be the spark for the increased production of more interesting electronic devices that blur the line between your laptop, your e-reader, and your mobile phone.

Read

Mobile travelers rejoice, your battery woes may be alleviated, at least a little bit. HP announced today that you can get 24 hours of run time on a single charge with their HP EliteBook 6930p. The HP EliteBook 6930p was specially configured with an Ultra Capacity 12-cell battery, a power-saving Illumi-Lite LED display, an Intel 80GB SSD and Windows XP with the latest Intel graphics driver and HP BIOS. Phew, got all that? The battery life rating is based upon “an industry standard benchmark” so your individual performance may be significantly less vary. Versions of this notebook as configured with the low power Illumi-Lite LED display will be available starting October 2008. Now if they can just pack this power into a battery the size of a thick credit card instead of a 12-cell brick, then we really can rejoice!

Read